* Britain reported 141,472 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, down from 146,390 cases on Saturday, while the number of new deaths reported fell to 97 from 313, official figures showed. Britain has seen a surge of cases linked to the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in recent weeks, though death rates have been lower than during previous waves of the disease.

* Germany will study how reliable rapid antigen tests are in detecting the fast-spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said, adding the results of the assessment would become available within the next few weeks.

* A mandatory order would not be the most efficient way to encourage those not vaccinated against COVID-19 to get the shot and that plans to toughen health pass conditions were already yielding results, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said.

* Israel has sought to ease access to home COVID-19 tests, after a decision to allow most vaccinated people to use the kits to decide whether or not to quarantine led to shortages in shops and complaints about high prices.

* Thousands of people took to the streets of the Czech Republic at the weekend to protest the government's anti-coronavirus measures, with about 4000 in Prague on Sunday protesting against compulsory vaccination.

PACIFIC

* The Philippines government has ordered an increase in hospital beds and medical resources in and around the capital Manila, as the country set another record for new COVID-19 infections. Nearly 60 per cent of the 28,707 cases came from the capital region.

AMERICAS

* The United States has administered over 519.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Sunday morning, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Those figures are up from the total of 518 million vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by Saturday.

* The head of Brazil's health regulator Anvisa has asked the country's vaccine-sceptic President Jair Bolsonaro to retract statements he made criticising the agency for authorising the vaccination of children against COVID-19.

* Brazil has had 24,382 new COVID-19 cases and 44 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, taking total cases to 22,523,907 and the official death toll to 619,981.

ASIA

* China has reported 157 new confirmed coronavirus cases for Sunday, down slightly from 165 a day earlier and no new deaths, leaving the death toll at 4636. Mainland China had 103,776 confirmed cases as of Sunday.

* The United States has agreed to impose stricter COVID-19 measures at US military bases in Japan, amid concerns that outbreaks at bases have fuelled infection in local communities.

Australian Associated Press